US STOCKS-Futures slide on euro zone, fiscal worries

* Import prices, consumer sentiment data on tap

* JCPenney shares slide after results

* Futures off: Dow 102 pts, S&P 10.4 pts, Nasdaq 15.5 pts

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK, Nov 9 U.S. stock index futures tumbled
on Friday and were on track to post their worst weekly drop in
five months as the euro zone crisis was seen hitting France and
Germany and investors fretted over a looming U.S. "fiscal
cliff."

Growth in Germany, Europe's largest economy, is likely to
weaken in the next two quarters as firms postpone investments
while France's central bank said it expected the euro zone's
second-largest economy to slip into recession as 2012 ends.

In a speech at 1:05 p.m. EST (1805 GMT), newly reelected
President Barack Obama is likely to discuss looming tax
increases and government spending cuts - the so-called fiscal
cliff - that would go into effect and possibly drive the U.S.
economy into recession unless Congress acts to prevent them.

"We're going to get an initial reaction in the first five
minutes of his speech," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research
analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

"The media is focusing on the fiscal cliff, I think, because
Wall Street is focusing on it. Taxes really do matter and they
change behavior."

The S&P 500 closed Thursday below its 200-day moving average
for the first time in five months, a bearish technical signal
that could keep stocks under pressure.

S&P 500 futures fell 10.4 points and were below fair
value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account
interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 102
points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 15.5 points.

Groupon Inc's results, released Thursday, fell
short of Wall Street's expectations as the daily deal company
failed to turn around a struggling European business. The
company's shares slumped 17 percent in premarket trading Friday.

J.C.Penney shares fell more than 7 percent in
premarket trading after the retailer reported a
sharper-than-expected decline in quarterly sales at stores open
at least a year.

The U.S. Labor Department releases import-export prices for
October at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters
survey forecast an unchanged reading for imports and a 0.2
percent rise in export prices.

Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers
will release preliminary November consumer sentiment index at
9:55 a.m. (1455 GMT). Economists expect a sentiment reading of
83.0 compared with 82.6 in the final October report.

On a more positive note, mostly dismissed by the market,
Chinese data for October showed infrastructure investment
accelerated and factory output ran at its fastest in five
months.

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